Gaza’s displaced are facing harsh winter conditions with inadequate shelter [Photo by BASHAR TALEB/AFP via Getty Images]
Israel continued to bomb the Gaza Strip on Tuesday amid fears worldwide over the deteriorating humanitarian situation across the enclave as a harsh winter sets in.Â
Strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp, subjected to an intensified siege along with Beit Lahia and the rest of northern Gaza for the past 53 days, killed five people, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Another two people were killed near Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director of the World Health Organisation, said that attacks against the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the besieged north have injured 14 people in the past 48 hours, including the hospital director.
“The attacks on Kamal Adwan Hospital must stop immediately, and safe passage for a humanitarian mission must be ensured, so that health personnel can be deployed and medical supplies provided for the remaining patients,” he said.
At the G7 summit in Italy, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrel, warned that “starvation is being used as a weapon against people left alone in northern Gaza”.
Borrel warn that around 250,000 people are trapped in besieged north Gaza.
On Monday, Save the Children said that around 130,000 children under 10 are among those trapped in the area, cut off from food, water and medicine since the beginning of the siege.
Conditions have continued to deteriorate elsewhere in Gaza, with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warning that roughly half a million displaced people in the enclave are residing in flood-prone zones.
“Harsh winter weather is compounded by heavy rain and rising sea levels, which cause sewage pile-ups and disease,” UNRWA said on X.
The agency also shared pictures of displaced Palestinians removing their belongings from flooded tents on the beach near Khan Younis.
Footage shared by EuroMed Human Rights Monitor Chief of Communication Muhammad Shehada showed tents in the Mawasi humanitarian zone flooding due to rising sea levels.
“Ten thousand tents destroyed within two days by rain and sea. 110,000 tents damaged, worn out and unusable,” he said.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini issued a statement against what he says is the spread of disinformation about the agency, which “is meant to create chaos and divert attention from the political aims to dismantle the agency”.
Israel has been engaged in a long-term smear campaign against the agency, and has made unverified allegations that some of its staff are members of Hamas.
Last month, the Israeli Knesset voted to ban the agency from operating in Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel, a move that could potentially deprive millions of Palestinians of essential aid.
In a post on X, Lazzarini cautioned that disinformation harms refugees by undermining the agency’s ability to provide humanitarian assistance, education and healthcare.
“UNRWA is the international community’s instrument put in place to address the plight of Palestine refugees in the absence of an alternative and until a just political solution is found,” he wrote.
“Avoid becoming an echo for disinformation and a factor of fuelling hate. It’s more harmful than you think,” he added.
